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fear-ne · 10 days ago

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kind of a weird question but... do you ave a similar sort of character analysis for fearne as you do for orym and dorian? gotta even out the exu trio

Not a weird question at all! I love analysing characters and I am more than happy to talk about Fearnie, so thanks for the opportunity. Since we are not necessarily focusing on one aspect in particular, I am just going to go wild with this one. It'll probably be all over the place. Especially because it's Fearne and oh my god there is a lot about Fearne. I will try to keep it brief and direct for now though.

To me, Fearne is probably one of (if not the most) complex characters in the entire party/campaign and I have some trouble pinning down her thoughts in certain moments, which makes her all the more interesting, especially when it comes to the god debate and the overall themes of the campaign. She is such a vital centre piece of the narrative, mainly because all the themes in focus of campaign three are wonderfully reflected in the own character and arc.

Some of those themes are power, control and corruption. Ashley herself has mentioned before that Fearne tends to hide her emotions and fears behind a mask, both to protect herself and others and to always keep up an air of control even in moments in which she is, by all means, powerless. Fearne needs to be in control, she longs for it, no doubt due to her past and present being dictated by others around her, be it her father forcing her status as Ruidusborn or pacts made with devils and archfeys. This need for control is ultimately a huge reason for why she appears to be so hesitant and at times even scared of her own abilities and nature. One big moment here other than an ever present possible fear of exhalting is the fire shard.

Fearne has never quite been so shaken as in that moment. She didn't want that shard, she was afraid of its powers, she was unsure about what it would do to her. She feared it would corrupt her. She has already been changed so much from outside forces, by something beyond her reach. Her father forcing her conception under a red flare and signing away her essence in a pact yet unknown, her parents giving her away. She needs to be in control and she just coudn't and wouldn't take this risk herself.

She already saw a dark version of herself in EXU, when the crown was right there for the taking. She didn't want to become her mirror version, she needs to be able to become something good. Something she can control. She never wanted power over agency. And when Ashton took the shard and fucking died trying to absorb it, Fearne just broke. She was angry, sad and terrified. Screaming and lashing out like she never has before. Guilty too. It was one of those moments when her mask slipped off and her deep insecurities and fears and overall unstable understanding of herself and the world outside the feyrealm surfaced.

Another moment similar to that one was when Orym and Laudna died and she had to make a choice to save one of them. She couldn't. She had no control. She tossed a coin. She was terrified. And all that leads into her eventual hesitation concerning Predathos and her choice to resist its call. That mirrior version, the shard, a lack of control. It all came to a peak and she made a choice to reject being the vessel. Deciding her own fate with it.

I also think her "ending", playing with fate, plucking strings and being Nana Morri's pupil, kind of compliments her relationship with control very well. She has fate in her hands for once.

Having said that, I also believe that her need for agency and control kind of clashes with another big trait of hers: curiosity. Fearne, by nature, is a curious and wide-eyed freespirit, who doesn't want to be tied down and just explore and see the world after being isolated for so long. Should the world burn, then she wants "a front row seat" as long as her family is safe. (The entire line here was: "What am I doing here? I'm here because I'm very curious. And if the world is going to burn, I would like to have a front-row seat.")

She is curious, yet afraid. Of losing control of herself and of losing control of her connections and seing not only herself corrupted, but her friends too. Opal and the crown. Imogen and Predathos. Laudna and Delilah. Ashton and the Shard. All moments in which her fear of corruption trigged a strong reaction against her will.

She wants to give every creature (including the deities, who she views as a broken family and even predathos at one point) a chance in this world. In turn, I would almost say that this aspiration creates another turmoil within herself, because that's just not possible the way she would like it to be. Btw I don't think she is naive or anything when it comes to that (I have heard that take before and strongly dislike it), she is very aware of the fact that it isn't viable and yet she still laments it.

Regarding all these points, I think when it comes to the god debate and her feelings on that in particular, we can kind of place her on the same level as Chet: leaning toward neutral, and in her case because of this internal struggle and her wish for control clashing with curiosity and love for just living things in general. (I should create a Bells Hells god-scale some day lmfao.)

So what we learn is that Fearne yearns for control over power and therefore struggles with her identity as Ruidusborn, is deeply afraid of power and corruption and has been seen to let her mask crack only in moments in which that excact fear is triggered. And she therefore perfectly rounds the exu trio as the compartmentalization crew.

I am aware that this post is incredibly scattered and therefore not the most flawless and grounded character analysis. Mainly because it doesn't touch on a single aspect, but kind of scratches the surface of a lot of themes. And there is so, so much to Fearne. Again as I said, she pretty much is the poster child when it comes to representing what the campaign's narrative is all about.

#fearnieeeeeeee #queen of my heart #fearne calloway

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fear-ne · 16 days ago

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What is the dumbest take you have heard about each BH member (and also a good take you have seen about them to balance out negativity orz)

Thank you so much for letting me yap again, I am honored. Generally, I like to avoid dwelling too much on negative aspects, so I am going to try and balance all this out nicely. Although it is undeniable that I have seen some opinions and comments about Bells Hells that I'd love to touch on. Not calling anyone stupid here, just some things I really disagree with.

This is absolutely not directed at anyone! It's just a general exploration of takes and ideas that I have witnessed over the course of the campaign.

One might notice that reoccuring themes are selfishness or overreactions. Because for some strange reason, BH are often viewed as selfish, arrogant or obnoxious. It's especially bad with certain characters, but I will get into that.

When it comes to Imogen, I think my biggest pet peeve is whenever she gets assigned the label of "main character" or whenever people claim she has "main character syndrome" (which is more rare but still happens). Did she play a key part in the story? Yes. But not more than other characters have before her. Is she one of the most beloved characters in the campaign? Yes. I believe people might get the idea of "main character" because a lot of fans started resonating with her trauma and experiences and the amount of art/discussion/other content around her really ramped up. Especially also in regards to Imodna, of course, which is kind of revolutionary as such a well-developed sapphic ralationship. Her character is well adjusted and woven into the story fantastically! And I think plenty of folks are also excited to see a woman (a lesbian no less!) play a big part in a narrative.

But since Laura herself is rather uncomfortable with the idea of Imogen being the focus of C3, I really dislike the idea overall. In a DnD party, some character will shine more than others at times, that happens in any homegame and it has also happened in C1 and C2. And again, I don't even think it's necessarily true. Imogen is very very reserved and always insists that she does not want to be put on a pedestal or be seen as some saviour figure. Every member of Bells Hells got their arcs and their moments and all of them are connected to the main plot through their own threads.

I don't know if that counts as a "take", but with Laudna it really is just everything connected to Delilah and her trauma surrounding her manipulation. Laudna gets blamed a lot for her responses to shock, fear and overwhelming situations in general and having finished What Doesn't Break not too long ago, this is just ten times more painful to me. Blaming Laudna every time Delilah starts controlling, manipulating and gaslighting her is just such a no-go for me and I found it especially painful during the aftermath of swordgate and the shard incident. Yes, Laudna is definitely not without her own flaws, but the way some folks reacted to her struggles just really hurt. Laudna is not Delilah and she is not purposefully evil.

Also, adding to that, the claim that Lauda is a selfish ass for voicing her emotions toward Higbearer Vord in the last episode is also really bugging me. I have seen some folks say that yes she is totally wrong to feel these emotions and is a total asshole for feeling them. Firstly, she never voiced those emotions in front of Vord, she avoided hurting him with anything she might say because she knew it might be upsetting. She literally asked "am I wrong to feel irritated, guys?" because the situation and the emotions following are complex and confusing. They just risked their lives and fought a being more powerful than gods to avoid a future catastrophe, only to face more vitriol, of course she will feel a certain way, even if it might be earned in some ways. Emotions are not wrong or right, inherently. The way you act on them can be, and Laudna handled that situation incredibly well (and shoutout to the Hells for their levelled responses).

On a more positive note, I absolutely loved the amount of inner party conflict and extreme high-stress / explosive situations we got this campaign, so I was happy whenever the narrative allowed complex and complicated character moments like that. Laudna's ups and downs, her being freed of Deliliah, then giving in again and eventually the swordgate "peak" leading into her finally controlling her was so great to see. Laudna really embodies the unpredictability of emotional outbursts and responses very well (all of BH do, but Marisha really didn't hold back and I commend her for it)!

I do kind of hope we get a Delilah perma kill one shot one day!

Fearne is often called overly aloof and naive, sometimes even indifferent and I could not disagree more with that. She is often reduced to this dreamy, quirky fey character who walks through life with her eyes closed and just waits to see what happens. She is kind and generous, but she is by no means naive.

I just posted a general analysis of her character and behavior, describing how a lot of her "aloof" and unbothered attitude/mask can easily be explained by an intense fear of lack of control and agency. Fearne is an incredibly complex character, who is such a vital key piece to the story and themes of C3 and it does really hurt whenever she is merely regarded as the wacky, funny, flirty fey. Also, similar to Imogen, because of her Ruidusborn nature, some folks claim she was pushed to be a "main character" and well, you know what I think about that at this point.

In connnection to that, I saw some people claim that she "overreacted" during shard gate, when this was truly one of those moments where her mask fully slipped and her fear and guilt completely took over. She was scared for Ashton, felt guilty because she rejected the shard and felt like maybe this entire situation is her fault now, she hated being helpless. She watched her friend, who she loved, kill themselves and break her trust. And that hurts. I just adore shard gate so much for what it did for her.

When it comes to Dorian, there was a time period in which people accused him of overreacting as well, calling him stupid and silly for hating the gods and wishing for them to step down, hoping for a shift in the power dynamics. It was very much a "get over it, it was a single betrayer god that did it" mentality, and some even went as far as to claim he was at fault for Cyrus' death, which is so incomprehensible to me. The entire point of the Downfall was to show that the Primes won't let go of their siblings, who are abusive and manipulative. That they will sacrifice mortals without a second thought for them. And that exact situation happened with the Crown Keepers (The Matron and Melora were literally there, Fy'ra even called for help and they refused). Dorian had every right to be that upset.

But the worst take in connection to that in my opinion was honestly the belief that he would betray his friends and join Ludinus. DORIAN. Betray his friends, his best friends and the man he loves, his chosen family? He would never in a million years even think about that. That one offended me personally lol

In my Orym meta I talked about how much I disagree with the take that he is the voice of reason; the only normal and nonbiased character in the party. Obviously that is not true at all, as I stated before and honestly, in a way it's also really unfair to the character itself because whenever he does crack and gets triggered or his trauma makes him respond a certain way, he is catching strays. Or he is "overreacting" (that word is used a lot with BH huh), which is just not true. Again I explained that in detail in the post I linked.

Also on the same note, when people say he doesn't belong with the Hells, it just rubs me the wrong way. Or when people say they are surprised that he never actually neutralized any of them. That role was mainly pushed upon him from the outside.

I love when people shine light on his flaws and obvious biases and of course, Orym fans do acknowledge all that!

Ashton is called selfish a lot. They are dubbed a hypocrite and a bigot, I have seen the word fascist thrown at them, which is wild to say the least. I think that take came up after their vision in episode 110, which if I recall correctly, never had them agree with Ka'Mort. It was them asking for another voice in this conflicet. There was a lot of interpretation that I didn't agree with there. Can they be self-centered sometimes? Yes. Shortsighted at times? Sure, they have their moments. But that does not take away from their nature.

Ashton has such a good heart, they are so sefless, have been from the very start. They've always protected the Hells, they have always stood up for people, they understand the pain of outcasts, although they don't really understand themselves, they serve "the forgotten and the dirt beneath their feet" and they mean that. They sacrified their life without a damn minute of hesitation to give people a chance. They struggle with understanding themselves and their relationship with the titans, they want to belong to something. Come from something. And in the end they do. They always have belonged to the Hells.

Chet has been perceived as selfish as well, some claim he doesn't care about anyone and is merely just a comic relief character who kind of does whatever he wants (but then again to be fair, I have also seen plenty of people defend him! A lot of folks understand him very well and it makes me so happy.). Chet cares so much for people, be it the Hells or others he grows attached to. The scene where he snaps at Tofor and Keyleth remains one of my favourites for him. He is genuinely pissed off about the way BH are treated and his sense of justice is displayed so well there. Him making these little gifts for the Hells from scratch, always defending Imogen and Fearne in particular. I love him for that.

Chetney was scared to get attached to anyone for such a long time because his family left him behind and he thought everyone else would too. But his Hells didn't and he quickly realized they won't. Chet is neither selfish nor is he a joke character. He can be a grumpy grandpa, but he is a wonderful and meaningful character.

FCG is a hard one. I don't remember any particularly striking takes about them that I disagreed with. If you do remember one, let me know, but I am blanking right now. I mean, perhaps there have been some floating around, but if so I have not seen them. Maybe the only thing I could think of is kind of similar to Orym's perception, as in they were too "god-positive" for the group and don't really belong. Which of course, is nonsense in my opinion.

And Braius is kind of in the same boat. He's not been around for long enough to catch strays I think lol.

I am always open and excited for more thoughts! Thanks for the ask.

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